Death

Death is an interesting concept.  It is one of those words that we measure not by itself, but by the absence of something.  Like darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absence of warmth, death is the absence of life.  Biblically this makes sense.  We were created with life.  We were made for life, and death only enters into the picture because of sin. 

One thing that I am grateful for is that Jesus came to conquer death.  Jesus did not just come to die to pay the penalty for sin, but He through His perfect life, and his Resurrection conquered death.  In other words, death, for those who believe in Jesus, is no longer a reality in the most crucial sense.  It is sadly true enough that until Christ returns our physical bodies will still perish.  And in this there is still sorrow and hurt and pain.  But in deepest reality those who die in Christ do not really die.  They really live.  Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies."  (John 11:25-26)

So that if I am in Christ death has been conquered.  So to live is Christ and to die is gain.  It is the reason I do not have to fear.  It is the reason for my hope in the face of tremendous loss and pain.  I will not ever, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, cease to live.  I have eternal life.  We often think we are waiting for eternal life - we place it in what comes next, but I have eternal life now!  Earlier in John, in chapter 10 Jesus says, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10)  We have eternal life now and forever.  And may we remember that all those who have gone on before us are very much alive in the presence of Christ.  We WILL be reunited with them because we have the same eternal life in Christ.  We will all be bound to Christ and His life for eternity!

So death has already lost.  It has no power.  It has lost its sting.  Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!

For the record, I write this through tears as this past weekend I lost a friend and our church has been grieving the loss of a young husband and father and friend, a son, a brother.  This message is for me too and I must grieve, but we grieve with the hope of knowing the truth about death.  And so we say again and again, over and over until the return of Christ. . .

So death has already lost.  It has no power.  It has lost its sting.  Praise be to Jesus who gives us the victory!